Time to capture while forcing flash to fire, zoom lens at wide angle position.

Prefocused

0.071 second

Time to capture, after half-pressing
and holding shutter button.

Full autofocus shutter response in the default AF mode is slower than average at both wide-angle and full telephoto, at 0.57 second. However, these results are a bit faster than its predecessor, the S95, which tested at 0.62-0.64 second. Enabling the flash increases lag quite a bit to 0.83 second, due to the preflash metering involved. "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure results in a lag time of 0.071 second, which is also a bit slower than average for a digicam, but an improvement over the S95's 0.096 second lag.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)

Single Shot mode
Large Fine JPEG

2.30 seconds

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 1 second to clear.*

Single Shot mode
RAW

3.00 seconds

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 2 seconds to clear.*

Single Shot mode
RAW + L/F JPEG

3.10 seconds

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 2 seconds to clear.*

Early shutter
penalty?

No

Some cameras don't snap another
shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot
mode, making "No" the preferred answer.

Continuous modeLarge Fine JPEG

0.43 second (2.35 frames per second);
20+ frames total;1 second to clear*

Shot-to-shot cycle times are sluggish, at 2.3 seconds for large/fine JPEGs, 3.0 seconds for RAW, and 3.1 seconds for RAW + L/F JPEGs. These results are roughly comparable to the S95's numbers.

The PowerShot S100's standard Continuous mode was faster than the S95's, but still sluggish for its class. The S100 captured large/fine JPEGs at 2.35 frames per second (vs 1.87 fps for the S95), which is just above Canon's spec of 2.3 fps, and the S100 seemed to be able to capture frames continuously at this rate. The burst rate dropped to 1.29 frames per second when capturing RAW files (vs 0.98 fps for the S95), but again with apparently no buffer limit. RAW + L/F JPEG was even slower, at 1.10 fps (we didn't test that for the S95). The good news is that the S100's new High-Speed HQ Burst mode was quite fast, capturing full-resolution JPEGs at 9.2 frames per second which is just below Canon's 9.6 fps spec, but buffer depth was only 8 frames. RAW capture is not supported in High-Speed HQ Burst mode.

The flash took 7.5 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is slower than average, and slower than the S95's 6.0 seconds.

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, download speeds were very fast. Note that we used a pretty fast 45MB/s UHS-I SDHC card, so slower cards may result in slower download speeds.

Bottom line, the Canon PowerShot S100's timing performance isn't something to write home about. Timing was generally similar to the S95, with minor improvements in some cases, along with some slower numbers as well. The only major improvement in performance is the new High-Speed HQ burst mode which can capture JPEGs at 9.2 fps, but buffer depth in this mode was only 8 frames and RAW capture isn't supported.

Battery Life

BatteryBelow average battery life for a lithium-ion design.

Operating Mode

Number of Shots

Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery,
(CIPA standard)

200

The Canon PowerShot S100 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is pretty short (same as the S95's), so we recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable
of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA
battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.